push back the dark

Who: Marian and Roy
Where: Outside Roy's building
When: Late morning

Marian was exhausted. She'd worked late the night before then got up early to pick up a spare shift from a girl who got sick. Her feet hurt, her back hurt and she was dead tired, but she had to do this. Roy had been by her place enough that she had a note from Roy as well at messages from all three of her roommates. He was obviously looking for her and needed to see her. She'd avoided him as long as she possibly could, and at this point it was time she got over that and just sucked it up and faced him. Since she was feeling guilty about avoiding her brother after work she didn't go home and soak her feet, or fall into bed to sleep until tomorrow she was headed towards Roy's vault.

Being he'd just gotten beat on at least three against one, Roy was pretty much where he'd been left. He was working towards getting back up. He really was. He just...well. Hurt everywhere. Part of that was the fight, part of that was having been ill for a while now. He was freezing. Shivering uncontrollably since it was a cold day and the frost was just starting to dissipate. If it was raining, he'd have let the rain wash the blood from his hand onto the sidewalk. Instead he'd just got his shirt bloody. There was the spot on the sidewalk where he'd been spitting blood, the inside of his cheek a little torn up from his teeth what with being punched in the face and all. It had only been about ten minutes or so, and he was coughing, trying to work up the necessary motivation to get up. Any time now.

Marian heard him coughing before she saw him, although she didn't think it was him making such a racket. Once her brother came into view though, her own aches and pains were ignored, hurrying to his side. The blood was obvious, on his hands, his shirt, the ground and his face. "Jesus, Roy, what happened?" Reaching around him she did her best to help him up some.

And there she was, his sister, sometimes the only bright point in his entire fucking life. Definitely she fit that description today, and he took the help up, even if anyone else would have gotten a bit of a shove, so they weren't so close. "Hey." he greeted, like he had just seen her normally, and she hadn't asked a question. "I've been lookin for you." he told her. getting to his feet and leaning heavily back against the building. "You been okay?" he asked, looking at her. She was a sight for sore eyes. She really, really was. He felt better just with her being there, that empty feeling of abandonment he usually felt when she distanced herself for a while dissapating. It always did, which was why he never brought it up. He knew sometimes she needed her space, so she got it and he didn't give her shit about it. It wouldn't be fair to, in his eyes. But one thing was very evident--he was glad and relieved to see her. Not even being sick and recently beaten could hide that.

"You're bleeding on the street and you're asking how I've been?" she asked, looking away to dig in her purse for a handkerchief. Marian loved her brother, but she couldn't look at him in that moment. It was obvious he'd needed her and she'd neglected it, part of her own stupid pride. Finally finding the scrap of fabric, because that's all it was, a scrap from an old blouse that couldn't be repaired, she handed it to him to clean up his face. "And I'd heard you'd been looking for me, although I'd hoped I'd find you better off." Her pretty face turned to a small frown. "Are you going to tell me what happened?"

"Yeah, I will." Roy said, reaching up to take the handkerchief from her, mopping at his face. "Inside?" he suggested, since he was still shivering, and at least inside was better than out here. "And 'course I'm asking how you've been." he added, before he went into a coughing fit, turning entirely from her when he did so. She didn't need to be sick. Not now, not ever.

Nodding she started towards inside, still close to lend a helping hand if he needed it. When he started coughing though, her hand was on his back in a moment. Before she'd thought it had something to do with his injuries, but this was obviously something else. "How long have you been sick Roy?" Concern was written all over her face and heavy in her voice.

"I dunno." he answered, shrugging one shoulder. "...a few days? A week, maybe?" he suggested. Time sometimes got away from him, where he didn't have that good a track on how long things had been. It wasn't like he had a calendar or anything. He headed for the door, though, holding it open for her. Then it was up the steps, up some more steps, up to the third floor, and into the vault he had set up. It was warmer inside, just not a whole lot. Still, it felt a lot warmer to Roy. He left his shoes by the door, and fell over onto the piled blankets that was his 'bed'. This was a plan that was much better in theory than practice, because it made all of his hurts hurt worse. The little grunt of pain he gave was enough to articulate that.

"That long?" Marian was more than worried now. "Have you done anything about it? You've been eating right?" Flashes of her sick family came back in full force as she followed Roy up the many stairs. Fear of losing Roy was strong enough to blot out the ache in her bones that didn't need to be climbing up three stories. Once in his vault she slipped out of her shoes as well, relieved to be able to feel her feet again, and then settled next to him. "How bad are you hurt? And who did it?"

"Been trying to eat regularly." Roy said, which he knew was slightly different than eating 'right'. But beggars couldn't be choosers, after all, now could they? He ate what he could get his hands on. "Got some medicine from the soup kitchen. Then...little girl, Arden, she showed up with medicine and vitamins for me." he added, sighing, shifting a little to lay on his stomach, arms propping his head up so he could look at Marian easily. "She shouldn't have to do that. I don't know how I'm gonna pay her back." he admitted, feeling terrible about that. But he'd accepted, because he knew he needed it. He didn't want to get worse and die. That would help no one.

He thought back to when he'd been worried about that, after Pepper had mentioned him dying in the vault. How Marian would eventually come back, and find him dead. Shit, that was a terrible thought, especially now that she was right here. Pushing it away, he watched her eyes. "Dodge." he answered. "He showed up and decided to pick a fight."

Marian knew about not eating right. She'd had weeks where the best she could manage was snagging scraps off plates at the diner. It wasn't pleasant but it was better than starving. "Where'd she get the medicine from?" Marian was having trouble placing Arden, but the name still sounded familiar. "And I'm sure you'll come up with something you can do for her, maybe not the same, but there's bound to be something you can do right?" Marian hated taking charity as much as her brother, but she knew full well that sometimes it was inevitable. Like the hand-me-down clothes she something got from one of her roommates.

Roy was right to watch her eyes, because they flashed with surprise when he named his attacker. "Dodge? Really?" She knew about the boy and his silly charade, but she also remembered that he rarely fought his own fights.

"Well, Dodge and a few of his goons." Roy said. "You know that ass doesn't ever go into something where he hasn't stacked the odds. And today...yeah. That was really great. Pick a fight with someone he knows is sick, and bring in other guys." He sighed, shaking his head a little. "He really thinks he's all that. Just...above everyone, and everyone should bow down and worship. Fucking coward." he said with feeling, beneath his breath. "He was looking for D, who I guess isn't at the theater. But I don't know where she is, and I told him that before he picked the fight."

"What's he so worried about her for?" Marian reached out for her brother, hand brushing in his hair a little. She had mixed feelings about Dodge in general, he was a pain and completely arrogant, but it was obvious that people liked him, even if she shared Roy's view in not understanding why. "And why you? What did you do to piss him off?"

He felt a little better when she messed with his hair, something their mom used to do, so it was a generally comforting gesture. It served to relax him a bit more. "I didn't take his shit like he thinks everyone around him is meant to?" Roy suggested. "I don't really know what else. I won't submit just because he says. And I guess he's worried because someone from the orphanage was looking for her. But if she got brought there, all he'd have to do was go look for her there. And besides. D does what she wants. That girl is stubborn and has a mind totally of her own. I'm pretty sure even if I had tried to move her, unless she wanted to go? Unless she was fully on board with the plan, God couldn't even move her, let alone me."

Marian could see him relax a little, so she didn't pull her hand back right away. "Maybe he thinks she listens to him too, like he thinks everyone else does," she mused her voice soft, trying to be soothing for both of them. "Did you at least bruise him up a little? Give him some of what he deserved?"

Roy drew in a breath and let it out, letting his tired eyes fall shut. "I think he thinks he owns her." he said, voice quieter, and quite clearly less tense now. By a whole lot, really. He'd definitely needed to see Marian. She always made him feel worlds better. Like maybe everything wasn't really going to go to hell, maybe he wasn't going to wind up dead, all that. Maybe not everything sucked. "And yeah, he'll probably have a good shiner, and his ribs won't feel too great for a while." Even though Roy would be suffering the same and more, he wasn't counting that. It wasn't like he'd won the fight. It had been vastly one sided.

"Really? Owning his boys is one thing, but thinking he owns D? He's getting even more arrogant as he gets older isn't he?" Marian settled in a little more, feeling some of the ache seep from her shoulders. She always did this to herself, avoiding Roy for so long, forgetting how much easier it was to just be herself rather than the smiling and happy person everyone else wanted her to be.
"...from what he said today, I think that's exactly it." Roy said, shifting a second to tug a quilt from behind himself and he tossed it over the both of them. Then he settled back again. "I think he's let everything go to his head. Like he really thinks he is royalty. Like he's entitled to everything and everyone. It's going to get him killed." Which wouldn't be a good thing. As much as he disliked the guy, he knew some of what he did for some of his clan was good. But in the end, his ego was going to be going way too far, especially if it was as overblown now as it was. That wasn't going to get better. It'd only get worse. Then that'd get him killed, whoever jumped in to save him, and a lot of other people wouldn't know what to do with themselves, wouldn't be able to take care of themselves because they wouldn't know how to without him. It was definitely a concern.

"Tell me what's been going on with you." he requested. "Everything okay?" he asked, opening his tired eyes again, focusing on her eyes once more. He hadn't seen her in a while and that usually meant she was working herself into the ground. She looked tired. She looked really tired, which was worrisome, but she often did around him. And he'd seen it melt away and she was this shiny, bubbly girl around other people, but with him? The mask came off. Much like his did. He didn't have to be tough around her, he didn't have to do anything. He just had to be him. But right now, he just wanted to know what she'd been up to. He'd be happy to listen to stories about customers, or room mates, or anything she wanted to share.

Marian pulled the blanket around her, shifting a little closer to Roy, both for warmth and the added comfort of having someone who truly cared about her so close. "It's a shame really, about Dodge. He could be a good guy if he'd get over himself." She sighed a little before answering his question. "Things are fine I guess. Just working, trying to make ends meet. There's a girl at work, she just found out she's pregnant. I'm hoping maybe I'll be able to grab some of her shifts when it gets hard for her to work. It'll be rough 'cause she works mornings and I usually work nights, but it's work and I'm not going to get more hours any other way." If it was anyone other than Roy she would have finished the sentence with a sweet smile, as if the whole thing was sort of a funny joke. With Roy though, she didn't need the smile, she didn't need to pretend that she was barely getting by.

"I think he used to be a good guy. Then everything went directly to his head, and now he's just all ego, riding high on his own puffed up sense of worth." Roy said honestly. Like at some point, Dodge's whole thing had been a positive, and now it really, really wasn't. He let the subject drop, though, concentrating on her more. He thought about the scenario at the diner and nodded a little. "Maybe you could switch? Maybe do mornings and afternoons?" he suggested, knowing that wasn't really likely at all, but she was a valueable employee. She made sure she was a valueable employee. Maybe by now she could have a little more say in things. He really hoped she could. he didn't want her burning the candle at both ends. She'd done it before, and it always wore her down so fast.

"I can try, but I don't know if I'll be able to. Plus her shifts that will need to be covered she said would be sporadic over the next few months. Just whenever she's not feeling well or something like that. It'll be another six months or so before she's out because she'll be too big to work." Marian rubbed at her eyes a little, exhausted at the thought of still being a the diner in the time it would take for someone to give birth. "And by then they might just decide to hire a replacement."

Roy made a bit of a face at that, and it was his turn to reach out and play with her hair a little, like she had with him. "Maybe they'll hire you for more. Or maybe you'll find a nicer job." he said. "You're a hard worker, you've got a great work ethic. I'm sure you could find something. Maybe it'd even pay better." he continued, really just hoping all that was true. That she could find something, maybe something that didn't exhaust her so much. He could always imagine her working a much more glamorous job. Maybe something at the Echo, or...he didn't know. Just something better. She deserved to be someplace better.

She leaned into his touch, enjoying how good it felt to be touched by someone she trusted. She avoided affectionate contact as much as possible, feeling safer without it, but with Roy it always made her feel safe rather than afraid. "I'd like that, to do something different. There just don't seem to be a lot of options out there." Marian frowned a little. "I'd be too afraid to leave the diner anyway. I know what I need to do there to keep the job, I have no idea how to do that somewhere else." She wanted that so much, to do something else, something better, something she could be proud of and something Roy could be proud of her doing.

"What crossed my mind was maybe something at the Echo. If they've got any openings or something." He was pretty sure that Marian had a better education than he did. Such as the ability to read and write. Maybe he could try finding her a typewriter. Typing was an important skill, right? Not everyone could do it. Maybe he'd find her one, and give it to her, and she could learn. Then she could have an office job, or something that was better than the diner. "Don't leave the diner, but maybe try looking around?" he suggested. So she could get something else lined up first. Then she wouldn't be out of any money at any time. Even if it would be hard for her to do.

"The Echo?" Marian almost laughed at that. "I'm not really sure I'm cut out to be a big time reporter." The small smile she gave him complimented the little bit of teasing in her voice. She watched her brother closely, feeling so lucky that he was there for her, that he thought she could do anything. "I guess I could look around," she said, still sounding hesitant.

"Hey, I think you'd make a good reporter. But even so, there's tons of jobs there, right?" he suggested. "People to type thing, and edit things, and put the paper together and get pictures and all kinds of things." Or, so he assumed, anyhow. It couldn't all just be one guy or even a handfull that did it. He'd seen the Echo's building. It was a huge one. With her more positive sort of response there, he smiled at her, now set on the typewriter idea. "It wouldn't hurt anything if you did." he said, encouragingly. That, before he paused, turning his head around from her entirely so he could cough, and it wasn't remotely in her direction. Then he turned back.

She'd been giving him a small smile through his whole explanation, not quite agreeing with him that she was cut out for that work, but feeling better because he thought she could. When he turned to cough though, Marian's smile faded to a worried frown. "Roy, you're really sick."

He waited, coughed a little more, then looked back at her. "Yeah, I know." he said. He pushed himself up a little and crawled over to where he had the medicine Arden had given him, and he took some of it out, swallowing the pills down. Then he went to lie back down. "I'll get better." I hope. Did he ever hope. Though one thing he knew--mentally he felt worlds better. Like so much of the darkness that tended to close in on him had been pushed back a good ways. Marian did that, and he was grateful. He felt more like himself.

When he came back over, she reached out, brushing his hair off his forehead and feeling the skin there. It seemed warm, but she knew her hands were also freezing so she wasn't able to tell if he was really in that bad of shape. Earlier she'd been considering just staying a while and eventually going home to her own bed, but now she wasn't sure if she could leave. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Not for me being sick." Roy said honestly. "But I've got the medicine...hopefully that helps." Serously, he hoped it helped or he was in trouble. And he hoped getting beat up hadn't made things worse. "But you're making me feel better being around." he told her. "I don't want you getting sick, though." he added, because he really didn't. The idea of Marian getting sick was pretty much one of the worst things he could think of.

"I'll be okay. I'm more worried about you." She'd avoided seeing him yes, but now that she was here she didn't want to leave, especially knowing he felt bad.

He looked at her for a long moment. "You look about as tired as I am." he said. "You going to stick around? Get some sleep?" he suggested, sitting up once more to get more blankets, and he settled them over her. He didn't want her sick? But her presence tempered him like nothing else in the world did, and man, had he needed her in the past few weeks. He'd felt so much like he'd been drowning, and now he felt like he could breathe easy again. Her staying for a while was something he could accept.

She certainly couldn't say no to that. The idea of walking home sounded like pure torture. Plus here, she was mostly comfortable, relaxed and safe. "I could stay," she started, settling in a little and eyes drooping some as her weariness started to win the battle.

Roy smiled at her. It was a soft, genuine expression. "Good." he said. "Night, sis." he told her, tone affectionate, and much more relaxed. Like he was happier in general, and that was because he was. His world felt on a better axis. He leaned over to turn the lanturn off, and made sure the door was as shut as he allowed it. With it like that, it warmed up faster, and while the blankets were actually doing a pretty good job, he wanted to be sure she was warm. Warm and comfortable and safe.

"Night" she mumbled despite it still being midday at the latest. Marian had intended to stay awake until Roy was asleep, but after a few moments she knew she wasn't able to and eventually succumbed to sleep.